Alexis Gudding responds to rat church by Zooey Kim Conner (2022)
a rat
i am a rat all the time
i love myself
i love that i am
i help other rats
before i help myself
and i love to help
i love warmth, and
another rat named rat
rat and i spend
time together
we eat and hide
and burrow and
run and look out
last night, after rat left
i dreamt
that i was in a maze
but i could not smell
usually i can smell
i can always smell
blood, and sometimes
it makes me kill
and other times i run
the next night i found
rat and their inside was outside
i know how
i cried and left
the next day i found
i was still a rat
i guess i am still a
rat all the time
maybe not